Tafari Benti
Brigadier General Tafari Benti | |
|---|---|
Tafarii Bantii | |
Chairman of the Derg and Head of State of Ethiopia | |
| In office 28 November 1974 – 3 February 1977 | |
| Monarch | Asfaw Wossen1 (until 1975) |
| Deputy | Mengistu Haile Mariam Atnafu Abate |
| Preceded by | Mengistu Haile Mariam |
| Succeeded by | Mengistu Haile Mariam |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 11 October 1921 Haile Selassie I , as remaining the de jure Emperor |
Brigadier General Tafari Benti (
Early life and career
Of ethnic Oromo descent,[2] Tafari Benti joined the Ethiopian Army at the age of 20, graduated from the Holetta Military Academy, and served in the Second, Third and Fourth Divisions of the army.[3] In 1967, he served as a military attaché in Washington, D.C. where he and several other Ethiopian colleagues suffered from racial discrimination.[4]
On 23 November 1974, Lt. General
Tenure
During his tenure, Tafari presented himself as the public face of the ruling junta. According to the Ottaways, while at first, he was "a neutral and powerless figure", in the end "he was too colorless, soft-spoken, and undemonstrative to be the figurehead of the revolution."
During his mandate, he constituted the public face of the Government Board, delivering the public announcements of the Derg. Among which was an announcement made on 11 September 1975, in which the Derg declared it would create a political party to support its objectives aligned with the
Over the following months, according to LaFort the Derg was split over irreconcilable objectives: "How could the authority of the Committee be strengthened while avoiding the dangers of authoritarianism, and how could the principles of collegiality be maintained while gaining maximum benefit from a concentration of power?" And behind this split was concern at Mengistu's growing power. To end this split, the Derg set up a committee chaired by Captain
In 1976, open clashes between members of the two largest Marxist-Leninist organizations began in the country. They grew into the murders of supporters of Mengistu and government employees. Thus, trade union leaders Theodoros Bekel and Themeslin Medé were killed. In September 1976, EPRP members made an assassination attempt on Mengistu himself, which enraged the latter.[9]
Death
Despite this apparent setback, Mengistu proved to be far more resourceful than his opponents believed. He conspired with his longtime friend and ally Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Asfaw to round up Tafari and other Derg members suspected of conspiring with the EPRP. During a routine meeting on 3 February 1977, Tafari and the other Derg members suspected of conspiring with the EPRP were arrested by soldiers under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Daniel. According to the memoirs of Fikre Selassie Wogderess, they were then led into a dark garage located in the compound and locked up. Fikre Selassie was also present at the meeting and was mistakenly arrested along with Tafari and the other suspect Derg members. However, Daniel arrived at the garage in time and released Fikre before the summary execution of the others. Shortly thereafter soldiers armed with automatic weapons and silencers arrived and assassinated Tafari and the suspect Derg members: Lieutenant Alemayehu Haile, Captain Mogus Wolde Michael, Corporal Hailu Belay, Lieutenant Colonel Asrat Desta, Lieutenant Colonel Hiruy Haile Selassie and Captain Tefera Deneke. Later, in the evening, a shootout opened in the same compound by another suspected EPRP conspirator Major Yohannes Tiku, where he killed Lieutenant Colonel Daniel and Senay Likke. Major Yohannes was also killed in the shootout.[10]
Shortly afterwards, Radio Ethiopia broadcast a charge by Mengistu that Tafari and his associates had been killed because they were secret supporters of the EPRP. Mengistu claimed he had discovered a 47-page master plan in Tafari's possession, which detailed how the EPRP would replace the "scientific socialism" of the Derg.[11]
Notes
- ^ "Benti, Tafari (1921-1977). » MCNBiografias.com". www.mcnbiografias.com. Retrieved Dec 15, 2020.
- ^ B. Henze, Paul (2000). Layers of Time: A History of Ethiopia. p. 289.
- ^ a b Marina and David Ottaway, Ethiopia: Empire in Revolution (New York: Africana, 1978), p. 134
- ^ Dawit Wolde Giorgis (1989) Red Tears: War, Famine and Revolution in Ethiopia, The Red Sea Press Inc., p. 22–23
- ^ Ottaway, Empire in Revolution, p. 61. However, Bahru Zewde, A History of Modern Ethiopia, second edition (London: James Currey, 1991), states this happened 24 November (p. 238)
- ^ Rene Lafort, Ethiopia: An Heretical Revolution? translated by A.M. Berrett (London: Zed Press, 1983), p. 158
- ^ LaFort, Heretical Revolution?, pp. 193-195
- ^ LaFort, Heretical Revolution?, p. 196
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
- ^ Fikre Selassie Wogederess, The Revolution and Us, p. 322–326
- ^ "And Then There Were Sixty", Time 14 February 1977 (accessed 14 May 2009)